


Through the park and by the tree

by s_t_c_s



Series: Are you afraid or is it true [2]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Beth is an unobservant loon and Rio loves it, F/M, Family, Football | Soccer, Friend Fluff, Friendship, Gen, I love Annie so everyone else must too, Love, Rio is annoying and Beth's very into it, Sneaking Around, if you can possibly say that about the two least subtle people in the universe, mentions of past beth/dean but mostly in terms of dean being TRASH, mentions of past recrational drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21918067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_t_c_s/pseuds/s_t_c_s
Summary: Sequel to People can be so cold, probably doesn't make a huge amount of sense if you haven't read that first.What's worse than Beth getting accused of being Rio's BFF? Annie being that!
Relationships: Annie Marks & Rio, Beth Boland & Annie Marks, Beth Boland & Ruby Hill, Beth Boland/Rio, Ruby Hill & Rio
Series: Are you afraid or is it true [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578559
Comments: 19
Kudos: 109





	Through the park and by the tree

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of picks up where People can be so cold finished, this focuses more on Rio's relationship with some of the other important people in Beth's life.

At least in her more rational moods, Beth doesn’t attempt to shoulder the blame for the… situation. Or – not the total weight, anyway. There’s no doubt that her and Rio’s, um, goings-on is what kicked it into full gear. But. Really that _has_ to be more on Rio; the monstrous crackle that clings around him and Annie.

It starts at Christmas, or more accurately the day before. When Beth returns from her, uh, snow-stranding, Rio in tow, she wasn’t expecting Annie – hips encased by her tiny hands, smugness pushing at her cheeks and chin – _right_ on the other side of the front door. It’s abundantly clear that Annie anticipated the exact timing of their arrival.

But Beth doesn’t, can’t, allow herself more than a millisecond of surprise. She acts fast, pulling an Annie on the originator of that trick – bamboozling and barraging with a thousand and one questions, using her forward momentum to encourage her sister into the kitchen. The sound of Rio shutting the door with a soft snick is heartening.

Beth does a fairly good job with her distraction tactic, enquiring after the whereabouts of her offspring (Annie apparently sent them all upstairs to unpack after catching a glimpse of Beth and Rio through the window, a point which Beth speeds past), exactly what animations Annie’s been letting them watch (she’s still bitter Kenny snitched about _A Scanner Darkly_ to Beth), if she’s excited for Sadie to receive his gifts (Annie doesn’t even read this one for the dirty trick it is, enthusiastically singing her son’s praises, like the sweet mark Beth knows her for). All the while Beth makes a show of fiddling through notebooks filled with recipes; sources implements, crockery and containers from various cupboards and crannies.

Perhaps Beth turns a little _too_ much constructed curiosity to the arrangement of foodstuffs in the fridge, as she begins to bring them out, for it to be believable. She was obviously the one who placed the whole lot in there, and everyone knows she has a _system_.

Beth must pause to take a breath at precisely the wrong moment, because Annie finds the opportunity to pounce.

“Hello,” she says pointedly to Rio, who’s lounging in a way that Beth can only describe as inappropriately calm.

He nods back at her, an easy rhythm.

“You’re,” Annie says, spiralling one of her hands in that way she does when she’s searching for a word on the tip of her tongue, “here.”

“Yeah,” Rio allows.

He looks, really, far too amused. Beth’s half-moved to step in, interrupt. But he was adamant he can hold his own, and there’s a not entirely tiny part of her that could handle seeing his face smothered in metaphorical egg.

“Why?” It’s just one little word from Annie, but Beth can hear the saccharine lead in her tone, it’s horribly clear.

She opens her own mouth to respond, Beth feels the muscles of her cheeks pulse. But Rio interrupts. Or – maybe she wasn’t actually saying anything. Whatever. Same difference, surely.

Rio indicates Beth with a quick jab of his head. “Your sis invited me,” he tells Annie.

And, yeah, okay. An obvious statement, but not a terrible response. Beth relaxes slightly with a large breath, turning back towards stuffing preparation. But then Rio fucks the _entire_ fuck up.

He’s trying to be self-deprecating, she assumes, a posture she can’t imagine he’s had much practice at. And maybe it’s touched by a desire to preserve everything from the night before, each slice of openness, private between only the pair of them. Which isn’t an angle she can genuinely fault him for. He makes it sound, though, like he gave Beth some sob story about being alone on Christmas, implies she bought it wholesale then brought him in – took him for a stray puppy.

He’s probably expecting a chuckle from Annie, but god that’s the absolute _worst_ way to attempt to work one from her.

Annie’ll rip on Beth past the cows coming home, sure, but if anyone else does it she can shift _savage_. It’s a lot to do with their mother, and a fair bit about Dean, and also Mr Hoskill back in high school, and– And there’s probably too many reasons, unfortunately. Talking smack about Beth’s intelligence, or implying her kindness is a weakness, is a certain method for startling Annie’s hair trigger response as she defends Beth’s virtues. Beth’s seen her lose it at Ruby for similar reasons, Sadie and Kenny have received certainly sharp tellings off. Hell, she’s even reamed out _Beth_ for talking about herself in a way that Annie reckons doesn’t pass muster.

So Annie snaps back at Rio, with words somewhat to that effect. The air between them turns unpleasant, toxic. There’s a nasty moment where Beth almost gives in to the temptation of calling down the kids. Annie takes auntie-hood _extremely_ seriously – it’s a trait Beth doesn’t mind claiming a piece of the credit for, given how she herself has doted on Sadie from birth. But also – that’s simply who Annie is as a person: protector of children, and family, and any extension of Beth. There’s no chance of Annie continuing an argument full throttle or unleashing a spate of filthy insinuations with her niblings present. But, shit, Beth can’t _actually_ stomach using her brood in that way; it’s too underhanded, too _Dean_.

And it stops mattering. Cos Rio says, “Sorry my dead parents and lack of siblings so inconvenient for you.” He isn’t sneering, not how the sound of the words might’ve suggested, but his face is stony.

The blow is low, but effective. Annie’s expressive face immediately displays sympathy, topped with concern that she’s been too cruel. It’s evidenced in the furl of her brows both downwards _and_ towards each other, the lines by her mouth, the patter of her meeting rows of eyelashes.

But then Annie’s eyes slit as her head re-angles, her tongue punches a path around one cheek before she speaks. “Yeah? Sorry my dead parents and unreasonably accommodating sibling are so damn convenient to you.”

Cheetah-rapid, Rio’s replying with, “ _I’m_ not.”

There’s a moment where Annie looks so appalled that Beth wants to shove herself in front of Rio, scared Annie’s seriously about to go in for a slap. But then Annie’s face splits with an impressed grin, and she turns to Beth in obvious amusement. It’s the first time either of them have looked at her in – what feels like a while. It’s almost unsettling, Beth’s used to having their – individual – focus. But watching their bizarre tennis match didn’t remind her of the bad sort of invisibility, which she certainly knows a whole host about. It was closer to the fond appreciation of being able to get on with crafting while Ruby curled up with a book nearby or, much later, Kenny entertaining himself with a Game Boy as she baked. Different isn’t automatically bad, she reminds herself.

Annie and Rio natter some more as they purport to help her with the food – Rio’s unsurprisingly the more useful of the two. Beth’s pretty sure that at least two thirds of his queries as to how exactly she wants things sliced or stored are supposed to be subtle digs – especially given Annie’s accompanying guffaws – but Beth _does_ have answers for each and every one, and he does as he’s told, mostly. She’s got a lot to do, her attention can’t rest at a solitary locus. And then she’s calling down to the kids to say bye to Annie, which is when Beth finally receives her cherished, rambunctious greeting from the whole lot of them. It of course leads to explaining Rio’s presence, and then eventually setting up Danny and Emma to help out in the kitchen too. So it’s not as if she has ample opportunity to dwell on, well, anything. In the kerfuffle, it’s no trouble to pretend she didn’t hear Annie’s murmured enthusiasm in her ear about Rio during a goodbye hug. Cos, hell, what’s Beth supposed to do with that praise? It’s explicitly not hers to take.

*

When Rio tells her he’s heading out, it makes Beth feel weirdly _not_ anxious. There’s a few of the symptoms when he says he wants to head home to shower and change, sort some shit, but the fact that that’s excitement over his return slots on in. Partly it hits her as strange that he’s leaving, they’ve been joined at the hip for too many hours in a row, but it should be much, much odder that he’s been here, doing this.

He says something about needing to return a spade, in an overly beleaguered tone, but Beth makes Rio swear not to do that without her. He doesn’t even make a joke of it, merely nods knowingly. Which is kind of annoying really, since she can’t understand why that appears so important to her – each speck of the mishap remaining shared. Rio leads her down the hall, towards her bedroom and away from mini prying eyes, while she’s talking airily about setting up the sofa bed for him.

Beth worries she needs to explain, that the kids are used to Annie or Ruby sleeping over with her in her bed but that that’d ring different with, well, a man. Yeah, they know, in an abstract way, that she dates. Kenny had asked her point blank, after meeting Dean’s third supposedly serious post-divorce girlfriend. Beth had felt no need to lie about it, especially with how concerned for her happiness Kenny had been. But she’d meant it when she promised she’d introduce her children to anyone she was serious about. Beth’s done a stellar job of keeping those lanes separate.

She doesn’t even get a chance to attempt to summon an explanation of all of that for Rio though. He mms at her, makes some presumptuous – if practical – suggestion about messing up that bedding to make it look slept on, an unreasonably lewd flavour to his pitch. Beth actually has an excellent comeback primed, but he kisses her breathless and her neat-freak jibe evaporates.

She leans into the cool breeze a little when Rio opens her French doors to exit through them. It’s as if her internal thermometer is awry since their freezing jaunt, the touch of cold is pleasant rather than bracing. Her skin’s been tingling too warm at least since she re-entered her home. Beth’s almost moved to call after Rio’s disappearing form, to ask when he’ll be back. But – it’s not that she’d hate to sound a nag. The ship’s long since sailed where either of them could pretend to be composed of different stuff than their deepest impulses to each other. it’s more – he’s not Dean, vagueing through life, leaving her to worry over his cooling dinner and the dissatisfaction levels of the kids. If Rio says he’ll be back later, she has no reason to doubt him. He’s followed through on every promise, good and bad. There’s pleasure in a certain sort of uncertainty, in anticipation.

It takes his absence for Beth to realise how good a shower and change of clothes sounds to her too, that wet wipe ‘bath’ which felt joyfully adequate in the morning paling in comparison to the amenities at her disposal now. Once she’s done with that it’s soon meal time, followed by the traditional grand cookie baking event, and the day spurs onwards with a million tasks and diversions. Before she knows it, the kids are all firmly ensconced in bed, and she’s readying herself for that destination too.

Those are her first moments unclouded by much else, and it’s mostly subconscious consideration being turned upon the Annie and Rio – interaction, Beth’s mental processing power still uncurling. Cos there were probably antecedents, right. Annie repeatedly gossiping to him about Beth’s potted history with piano lessons, or that long ago park drop where the two of them were reminiscing about a particular tree famed for being _the_ weed-purchasing spot, though they’d been on opposite sides of its supply and demand equation. And, actually, Beth’s pretty sure that Annie never owned a single dark coloured beanie prior to Rio’s interruption into their lives.

She’s worked up to some actual mulling as she brushes her teeth, half-undressed and disarrayed. A day of multi-tasking is still gripping her muscle memory, the frantic feeling clings past its usefulness, she’s unable to attend to simply a single thing at one time. When she looks up, glances at her reflection, Rio’s hovering behind her. Beth’s mouth opens, she assumes a gasp will fall out, but instead it sounds devastatingly closer to a pleased moan. He waggles first one eyebrow then the other at her.

Okay, so she hadn’t re-locked the exterior doors to her bedroom, but it’s not as if she communicated to Rio that he should come in this way. She _knows_ he is in fact physically capable of using her front door. And–

“Did you–” Beth starts, although she doesn’t get very far.

“Yeah, locked ‘em both.”

And then Rio’s hands are on her, one goes straight to her ass, over her crimson panties. The other reaches up her front, under the hideously patterned but very soft Christmas cashmere sweater she treated herself to.

The dishwasher and dryer are both still going, humming in the background. But she kind of wants to more firmly close the bathroom door too, or set the shower running maybe. Anything to drown out their potential sounds, although she doesn’t think the two of them are horribly loud. It’s just – this is her house, filled with her babies, and she’s not used to–

Only then he’s nosing against the back of her neck, inhaling, and Beth’s pushing back against him. She gets too wrapped up in the moment to obsess over any kind of noise cancelling plans, plus Rio helpfully shoves his hand over her mouth when her volume threatens to grow. However striking the vibe was earlier, Beth can’t find a moment to spare to think about Annie all night.

*

It’s not that Beth was _hoping_ it would stop after Christmas, she just sort of assumed it might fade off. The almost-novelty, the pressure the period can apply to emotions. But, no. _God_ , no.

And _every fucking time_ it’s a surprise. That this – attraction outweighs his lofty levels of annoyingness, how Rio’s still so hungry for her.

They’re careful around the kids – no lingering touches, strictly cheek kissing, if that. Rio takes to tweaking her nose a lot in public and she – might not totally hate it, starts returning the favour. Rio only stays over if her brood are off with Dean. But pretty much as soon as Jane spied Rio in the kitchen it had become clear that play dates probably needed to be placed back on the table. Jane had stopped asking over Marcus – and his possibly part-bird daddy – at some point. Beth’d kinda assumed that Jane had forgotten all about him – people moved in and out of children’s lives, it’d be completely natural. But the intensity with which Jane had questioned Rio tainted Beth with awful guilt all over again. And maybe she is letting that re-formed twosome get away with too much – as Rio keeps insisting – but they were so pleased at their reunion, and forever possessed with boundless spirit that surely has to go _somewhere_.

The way Rio manages to slip into every fold of Beth’s life with fundamentally ludicrous ease sets her teeth slightly on edge. It’s good, useful even, but it’s hard to let go of that desire to see the confidence he carries into every sphere backfire, at least a bit. It ought to be strange, probably, the effortlessness. But then again, a running start is practically _cheating_ , an unreasonable yardstick.

For starters, Rio wasn't unfamiliar to, or unliked by, her children. And Ruby and Annie have been teasing her over this prospect for a _long_ ass time, their reservations almost entirely transformed into assumptions. And she hardly needs to prevaricate on her work when it comes to Rio. But it’s more than that. They already know each other – personalities, bodies, tastes, foibles.

*

At a certain point, they do have to tell the kids. Not one of them has the decency to act the smallest amount surprised.

Emma, of all people, basically drawls a, “Duh,” allowing her eyeballs to rollick slightly. Beth does not need to search to work out where she picked that up from.

Rio’s capacity for being unreasonably charming, when he’s not attempting to intimidate, occasionally allows him to get her people on his – the wrong – side. Even _Judith_ warms to him, lending support to his insane belief as to how best to light the outside grill. In an unkind moment, Beth describes that as a betrayal of all womankind, but Ruby tuts her into a retraction.

As it all settles further, it’s no uncommon sight to see Rio and Annie, heads bent together in serious conversation, or laughing and yelling amongst a cadre of children. They’re thick as, ha, thieves. It makes Beth, well. Not _jealous_ , that’s definitely not the right word. That’s an emotion she’s plenty familiar with, it’s been aimed at classmates who had – just _enough_ , of affection and attention and basic material goods. Or towards women with careers, the respect of their husbands, teeny-tiny doll-like waists. Anyone who could be out in the sun for more than a minute without, like, combusting. And _Rio_ – god, she’s aware enough to note that not every aspect of her envy towards him has flooded quite away.

It’s just _strange_ , difficult to get used to. She stumbles upon her sister and her – um, Rio, sincerely debating the merits of various Porsche or Mercedes models, on more than one occasion. It’s not a topic either of them has canvassed her opinion about, nor one she has much to say on, though she did once run a car dealership.

And Sadie’s gotten _super_ into soccer recently, so Annie has too. She truly is a wonderful mother, conjuring up wealth of passion from who knows where. Beth’s had enough assassination or prison time scares to have given it serious thought – if anything happens to her she doesn’t want her kids going to Dean, or Judith, or even Ruby – and Ruby might be the best person in the entire world, unless that honour belongs to her husband instead. Annie’s path as parent humbles her.

Rio’s a massive soccer fan too, which Beth had barely the dimmest awareness of. She doesn’t really get the appeal of yelling “offside” a bunch, or excruciatingly low-scoring games, or staying up late to watch stuff aimed at the time zones of another continent. But the pair of them are often chattering happily with Sadie on the subject, luring Stan or Sara or Marcus over with their bright focus on techniques and people that Beth has no mind for. It soon leads to makeshift matches in the nearby park, three of her kids become, predictably, fanatics too. Sometimes Beth’s on the sidelines yelling, at others she doesn’t have the inclination to attend and nobody faults her for knocking items off her to-do list instead. It’s foreign, for sure.

Annie’s still heavily involved in Dakota’s life. There’s no official custody arrangement, Gregg and Nancy having muddled into a fairly amicable co-parenting strategy after breaking up. One night, Annie comes by with red eyes and a clenched jaw, slowly spills her panic over the way Dakota’s been acting out at pre-K. Beth can offer sympathy, but she can’t exactly speak to how best to manage the situation in a way backed with real experience. Whereas Rio and his ex split when Marcus was really young, and he’s always got this empathetic store of advice for Annie; willing to hear her out if she’s freaking or merely questing for a second opinion.

It’s – look, she’s trying to stay away from Rio-Dean comparisons, truly. To start with it’s not _fair_ – those are two very different sets of complex histories. Plus. Well, come on, it’s not like Rio’s ego needs further stroking. And she’s conscious that Dean will always be her children’s father, she doesn’t want to set any poison towards him around them. Beth will never be able to forgive her dad for walking out on them, but if it hadn’t been for the way her mother and her side of the family had trashed him entirely in the wake of that, might she have tried to reach out to him before he passed?

However Beth can't shake the memories, Dean always treating Annie as nothing more than a dumb kid, the dead weight of Beth’s bratty little sister. Honestly, Beth probably hadn’t been mad enough at him for it. But that’s literally who Anne _was_ when Dean first met her – a small child. And she’d always kinda hoped that Dean’s teenage exasperation was _for_ her. Since Beth couldn’t be annoyed at playing parent before she was really ready – incapable of holding that in tandem with the giant dimensions of her adoration for Annie – Dean was helpfully bearing the weight of it instead, lusting for better for Beth. In hindsight, she’s inclined to employ a less kind view.

Her sister liking her – her man, she guesses, is a new feeling. A good one. But it’s the way that Rio’s warmed to Annie that soothes Beth down to her marrow.

Still, there’s awkwardness to it, sometimes. Because even if there was a time, in their early days, when Rio ogled her so blatantly that Beth employed no hesitation over staring right back, there was certainly another stretch. A long period, after everything went horribly wrong, where she trained her vision to skitter off of him, forbade any appraisals from lingering. She and Rio are in a _much_ different place now, but any habit can be torturous to abandon. Beth gets a little self-conscious looking up from packing away a blissfully uninterrupted game of giant Jenga with Ruby, Harry, Marcus and Emma, to see Annie and Rio absorbed in belly laughs and barely stuttered words.

She _almost_ averts her gaze, whips herself off to the picnic basket. That’s what her instincts say would be natural, normal. But she watches a beat longer, and then they’re both excitedly gesturing, calling out to her. They’re each insistent that _they_ ought to be the one to share the joke with Beth, apparently faithless about the other’s abilities. It’s – it’s nice.

The Annie and Rio pairing, especially with how they electrify any orbiting little ones, can be _too_ loud and obnoxious. Not for _Beth_ , but don't they notice the unamused stares? At first she feels truly bad, blames herself for unleashing this demonic banded force out into the world. But it molds towards, with help, more of a fuck 'em attitude; Beth can glare back in a way that'll make most anyone reconsider. 

Soon Beth’s past the point of caring if it looks a little weird, that her boyfriend-partner-whatever is, like, the firmest of friends with her baby sister. Especially cos when she considers Rio, an only child with an only child, the person she recalls talking to her about loneliness at the top or his ex’s relations being too much, suddenly at the centre of a sprawling family, her heart clenches, too fast. It does that too when she muses on Annie, forever blessed with an over-abundance of love, constantly spilling it. Looking at the two of them, she sees Marcus and Jane, composed of such similar vibrations. But she also gets an overlay of Sadie and Sara – the sweetest and quietest individually, but together suddenly a mischievous cacophony. Of herself and Ruby too – speaking a secret language with facial gestures and muttered allusions, that not even Annie or Stan can penetrate all of.

*

They have some Whatsapp group, Rio, Annie and Ruby, without her. Which is – fine.

It started, apparently, with him digging for a choice birthday gift for Beth. The girls sold him on a spa weekend getaway, which was, yes, obviously excellent. Although Beth’s not sure he’ll be running to them for suggestions in the future, given that Annie and Ruby _insisted_ that Beth would enjoy it far more if they were also present. And that wasn’t untrue, but, god, the thought of Rio causally tripling his spending on her – it’s _embarrassing_.

The chat has mutated far beyond its original purpose anyway. Which Beth is aware of because– Ugh, the thing is, Rio’s some kind of photography nut. Loves dragging her to exhibitions to ooh at blurry images, has a tendency towards buying overpriced pieces to hang in the lobbies of places he barely visits, definitely plans hikes around opportunities to take shots of the landscape while engaging in waffle over apertures or tripods or whatever to anyone who will listen (the kids are far to free with their rapt attention, in Beth’s opinion).

So he has a few fancy cameras, and a whole bunch of _expensive_ lenses, as well as plans to have his own dark room someday. And a desire to take pictures of Beth, especially in the softly filtering morning light of her bedroom. For that, he generally has to make do with his cell phone’s camera. She doubts he actually minds, though he bitches a shit ton about it. He casually makes these terrifyingly leading statements about how they’re always at her place (not true, and it’d be even less close to accuracy if he wasn’t always inviting himself round – which she obviously doesn’t mind but isn’t willing to take the blame for) where his stuff isn’t (clearly fictitious too, for the record, given he’s now got two drawers and plenty of closet space; a number of additional gadgets, boxes of tea and spice jars all have assigned places in her kitchen these days). Beth’s half-convinced he’s refusing to bring any of the photography equipment round to hers out of principle, the principle being that he gets a massive kick out of complaining.

And, whatever, it’s not as if he appears to hate the ones he takes on his – latest model, of course – Pixel. She knows he sends some of those to Annie and Ruby in their weird chain, nothing risqué obviously. He’ll flash his phone’s screen to her briefly to indicate the portrait being discussed, before reading out their responses to it. And she is _not_ vain, okay. But she’s not sure if he gets that their ‘beautiful’ or ‘gorgeous’ or strings of heart emojis are aimed at the subject – cos they cherish her – not compliments to the artist. Her girls aren’t pretentious art snobs. There’s nothing to gain by bursting his bubble though, so she smiles sweetly and nods. Rio generally shakes his head or snorts, as if she doesn’t _get_ it. But… it’s like he’s kinda into that fact, or at least that they’ve got the time to turn it around. And since it normally ends with him kissing her sloppily, Beth doesn’t find it anything to whine over.

*

Beth catches the two of them – Rio and Annie – watching her, as she bustles around the kitchen, in one of her elements. She wanders over, after checking on the roast in the oven, confirming the crudités are all happy. They’re both smiling, but Annie’s eyes are suspiciously wet, and she excuses herself to go to the bathroom almost immediately.

Beth lets Rio wrap himself around her, relieves into his hold.

“What’s up?” she asks, thumbing a path towards Annie’s progress, though he can’t see her hand at his back.

“Eh, she just really loves you,” Rio semi-mumbles into Beth’s hair.

She shrugs, of course Annie does, Beth’s her big sister.

He pulls back a little to tease her, “Oh what, you a stone cold bitch, never been overwhelmed with emotion?”

The fact that he witnessed Beth weeping in bed a couple of weeks ago over– Shit, she can’t even remember half the stuff she was wound up over now. Well, that’s unfair ammunition, is what it is. So she pokes him a few times in a ticklish spot till he backs off.

Of course when she infers what he was talking about to Annie later that night when it’s just the two of them alone, based on what he asks her, Beth calls him a secretive asshole. But she also doesn’t say no.

*

They’re in the backyard – the whole huge cohort. And it lists a modicum bittersweet. Cos her house is officially on the market now, the new place is approaching readiness. Rio fucking put the offer in without even a whisper of his plan to her, and Beth keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, for a firm sheet of irritated indignation to form across her. But it’s outrageously perfect – which she doesn’t fully ascribe to Rio, he had all of Annie and Ruby’s wisdom at his disposal after all. But, god, she always has been into his shrewdness, that ability to gather information and forthrightly make the best decision without second guessing.

There’s a sensation of battling time’s progress, that any of these events might be at least close to the last. A humongous need to savour settles over Beth, although all five of their kids seem to be more than okay with the prospect, so excited for the new adventure that not even the youngest have summoned much sadness for soon saying farewell to the beloved tree house or slide.

Beth’s caught in observing the spectacle of Ruby entertaining the munchkins – Rio and Annie have the older ones engaged in what has to be an unofficial soccer set up. Sometimes it’s hard to believe how used to this she is, especially the peacefulness that comes with not always needing to be the bustling core, not the first port of call as a security blanket for multiple pairs of questing arms, nor a glimmering trophy expected to adorn a crooked elbow.

She’s enjoying losing herself in Ruby’s ridiculously pulled faces and booming wolf howls. Beth’s laughter is mostly silent, unlike the kids’, but she’s so engrossed that she doesn’t notice Stan coming up to her, not till he’s waving a fresh champagne flute in front of her face. Beth takes it gratefully, they cheers, beaming.

There’s a kindred glint to Stan, but still, the words burble out of her. “I just – I just love her so much,” Beth’s drink pitches slightly in Ruby’s direction, though she’s careful not to spill any liquid.

Stan’s face folds into understanding, Beth knows hers is pinched as if she’s about to cry, but she’s not. She is _not_. His left palm splays over the centre of his chest. Their attention is pulled up though, as Emma and Marcus’ delighted shrieks over being caught by Ruby fill the shimmering air.

When Beth notices that the almost and actually teens have run over to join Ruby’s game, her sights shift. Rio and Annie have stayed over at the far end, and they’re just – looking at her. Those aren’t twin expressions, one’s unreasonably shaded with promise, and the other has a little too much of the pedestal there, still. But, given that moment with Stan, still stamped fresh, it’s as if something clicks into place. A rush of love trips through Beth, along with a shaky exhale.

Next thing she knows, Annie and Rio are sharing a quick glance – honestly the quantity of eyebrow they have between them is _insane_ , and then they’re both sprinting for her. Beth proactively yelps, squints a bit as she braces, but she doesn’t move out of the path of the double tackle hug aimed her way.

**Author's Note:**

> I maintain my persistent belief that Beth and Stan are totally great friends, partly because they both ADORE Ruby so much. And I do think Rio and Annie definitely have the capacity to get along really well for several reasons, not least because they can both be really defensive/protective of Beth but also love mocking her to death haha.
> 
> I feel like this might not be what everyone'd be looking for in a follow up, but it's what fell out xxx
> 
> Title is from We're Going to Be Friends by The White Stripes.


End file.
